Skulduggery: Past Present and Future
by lisa.anne.b97
Summary: Skulduggery and Valkyrie are running out of time, with help from her past and future can she and Skulduggery save the future?
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Skulduggery or any of the characters contained within this story :)_

_A/N: First chapter is really long i know, i'll shorten the next chapter._

**Chapter One**

I need to find Skulduggery, she thought to herself. She shuffled along the dampened road as fast as her crippled old legs could carry her; she was running out of time, she knew it. The old women continued along the streets clutching her chest, she looked as though she'd just come out of a war. Her hair was a mucky grey color, all tangled and bits of rubble and dried blood clung to it, her face was covered in cuts and bruises along with her arms and legs. Her clothes were all dirty and cut up revealing a tattoo along her upper right arm. She looked around, the place was just as she remembered it; the buildings around her were newly built and stood high towering over the town, hiding the secrets that lay underneath. The people around her too scared to leave or offer assistance. Her breathing was getting heavy now, she didn't have long left she knew she was going to die soon, but she had to make sure she found Skulduggery first, she had to warn him. She was remembering things more clearly, The Sanctuary, her past, her present.

She was nearly there. She could see the sanctuary more clearly now as memories of her time there came flooding back to her. She took a few more steps then collapsed onto her hands and knees, she stayed there panting. She couldn't make it. Not by herself. Just then a woman came over to her, a very beautiful woman wearing a blood red dress. She stared at the woman for a while, she knew this woman, she'd seen her before, but where?

"Er…Are you okay? Do you need any help?" The woman asked with a worrying look on her face. The old woman looked at her puzzled, that voice, where had she heard it before, it was so familiar. And then it hit her. She knew this woman, in fact she knew this woman even before she became a woman.

"S…Scape…grace?" The woman named Scapegrace looked surprised that this old woman knew his name.

"How do you know my name? Just who are you?" The old woman slowly reached for Scapegrace but he took a step back hesitantly.

"Scapegrace, I need to find Skulduggery," she coughed and blood came out. "I need to warn him." She doubled over and continued coughing, blood splattering the floor in front of her.

"Warn him about what?" Scapegrace asked, not wanting to know the answer. The old woman remained silent for a moment or two then with a desperate lunge she grabbed Scapegrace's hand.

"It's me," she said with a sigh "I'm Valkyrie…Valkyrie Cain; I need to find Skulduggery, I need to tell him."

"Tell him what?" he said with an alarmed look on his face. The old woman looked into his eyes for what seemed like a lifetime, and then said with a gentle whisper "I need to tell him how the world ended!"

Valkyrie sat up in bed suddenly, her dream fading from her memory as she tried hard to remember it. It seemed so real, there had been an old woman – and Scapegrace, and… she rested her hand on her head and closed her eyes tightly shut. What happened in the dream? What were they talking about? She was racking her brain, trying to picture her dream but it was no use, the dream was sifting through her head, it was like trying to keep sand in your hand, each detail slowly drifting away.

She was back in her own bed today; Skulduggery had a meeting with Ghastly so she was free until the afternoon. She gave up trying to remember the dream; it wasn't like it actually meant something, right? She thought to herself. She got up and went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Once she'd finished she stepped out of the shower and quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it just as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A voice called from the other side of the door

"Steph, is that you?"

"No Mum," she replied "It's a thief; I'm here to steal your soap"

"That's funny, not many thieves call me Mum" she retorted with a chuckle. Valkyrie scowled at the door trying to think of a witty comeback, but too late, her mother had already crossed the landing and gone into her room. Valkyrie stepped in front of the mirror wiping away the steam as she neared, opening her towel slightly to check for any bruising or cuts. The fight last night had taken a toll on her physically leaving her exhausted but luckily left no visible signs. Satisfied there weren't any she went to her own room and pulled on her football Jersey and some worn down jeans then headed downstairs into a heated debate about the gym membership her parents gave Stephanie a few years ago.

"I think I should be the one who gets to go with Stephanie, I love her more" her dad whined as she entered. "I was there when she was born"

"So was I" her mother exclaimed "I kind of had to be!"

"Well I was there too" Valkyrie interjected not wanting to feel left out of the conversation. They both looked at each other then turned to look at Stephanie,

"Do you mind?" they replied, their voices dripping with sarcasm, "This really isn't about you" Valkyrie murmured something unflattering under her breath then turned on her heel and stomped out leaving her parents to make smart remarks about her behind her back. She headed into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast and just as she'd settled herself into a chair her phone rang.

"I thought you said I had the morning off" she said grumpily into the phone.

"Relax grumpy I'm not calling to ruin your morning, I just thought I'd be polite and tell you I'm in your bedroom" Skulduggery replied with humor in his voice. Valkyrie looked up at the ceiling.

"What are you doing up there, I thought you had a meeting with Ghastly?" she said hastily as she picked up her breakfast and hurried upstairs into her bedroom, she closed the door and turned to find Skulduggery sat on her bed looking at her.

"My meeting ended early so I had nothing else to do" he continued speaking into his phone.

"Well…" she started to say into the phone then shook her head and hung up.

"Well you could've called first" she sat down on the bed and started eating her breakfast.

"I did call" he said while putting his phone back in his pocket.

"I meant you could've called earlier before you were already here" she sighed then decided to change the conversation. "So what did Ghastly want to see you about?"

"Oh you know, just the usual"

"Actually I don't know just the 'usual' I don't get invited to these meetings" she said.

"You have to wonder why that is, are you not important enough? Maybe you're just unexceptional" he said with a nod.

"I'm very exceptional and I choose not to get invited"

"Yes" he nodded. "You're refusing to see them." She could hear the sarcasm in his voice and glared at him.

"I'm glad I don't get invited, I wouldn't go even if they did want me to. Anyway we're going off topic, what did he want to see you about?" Skulduggery didn't talk for a few minutes then mumbled something under his breath.

"Skulduggery" she said with an edge in her voice.

"I didn't go" he repeated, louder this time. Valkyrie stared at him bewildered. Skulduggery for his part remained silent and stared down at his shoes, avoiding her eyes.

"You said he had something important to tell you, why didn't you go?" Skulduggery cleared his throat uselessly then sighed.

"Every time I go to their meetings it's always dull and boring, I can't go to another one, I might start shooting" Valkyrie stared at him with a look that smart people would use towards idiots. Ghastly had spent months researching about dimensional shifts, ever since Nadir sent Valkyrie to another dimension it had intrigued him, he wanted to know more. Especially since someone was using Nadir to bring things from another dimension to here. That 'someone' was still a mystery; he had remained under the radar from them for a little over seven years now, whoever he is, he has something big planned which includes Skulduggery and herself.

"Don't worry," he said "we'll probably see them soon enough, knowing our luck something will come up and it will be unavoidable. Besides I thought we could go somewhere fun this morning, no bad guys, no fights and no magic. I know a coffee shop nearby that we could stop at before dinner, what you say?" despite herself she found herself actually smiling, she'd never really spent any time with Skulduggery outside the magic world. She scooped up the last of her cereal then told Skulduggery to wait here while she went downstairs.

She stayed behind the living room door and listened for any banter, she didn't want to walk in on another one of her parents silly arguments, they were draining her energy. Thankfully they were sat watching television when she entered. Her dad looked up from the television to her when he heard her and smiled.

"Hello my darling daughter, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Valkyrie gave her father a puzzled look then turned to her mother about to ask if dad was drugged up on painkillers. Her mother ended her puzzlement.

"Des she's not taking you to the gym so stop trying to butter her up" her dad sagged into his chair and returned his attention to the television. Valkyrie felt a little wounded that her dad only wanted to talk to her about the gym membership but after a few seconds she realized she didn't really care. She went over to her mother instead.

"I'm finishing off some homework upstairs so I probably won't be down for a while, if you need me for anything other than the membership then only then can you disturb me". Her mother nodded her agreement but her father was too wrapped up in who won the football match last night to respond. She hugged her mum as they both rolled their eyes then went upstairs for the second time in less than half an hour.

She touched the mirror and watched as her reflection came spilling out and stood right in front on her, she then motioned for Skulduggery to turn around while she started getting undressed. She got changed into the clothes Ghastly had made for her, noticing how well they still fitted then put her discarded clothes under the bed.

"I'll only be gone for a few hours" she told the reflection, "so stay upstairs for an hour or two then spend some time with my parents. You can finish the homework off we got yesterday". The reflection went and sat down at the desk and withdrew some books from her school bag.

"You ready to go?" Skulduggery asked Valkyrie. She glanced at the reflection a minute then opened her window and together they both jumped out and made their way towards the Bentley.

Skulduggery had decided to take a different route to the cafe, he said it was a short cut but Valkyrie had a feeling they were lost. She sat back in her seat and looked out of the window, she had no idea where she was, she wondered if they were still even in Haggard, it didn't look like it.

"I know it's around here somewhere, were definitely close" Skulduggery insisted, Valkyrie turned to him.

"Let's go somewhere nice' you said, 'it'll be fun' you said. I could've been doing something that is fun by now if I'd stayed at home" she said sulkily.

"Really? And what would you have been doing?"

"I could've…well I…" she faltered. "I could've been doing anything that's better than sitting in a car while being lost, I could be watching the results from last night's football match" skulduggery tilted his head to her.

"You're interested in football?"

"Well, no but if I was I would be missing it now"

"I am so sorry I took you away from watching the results of the football match last night that you're not interested in. Happy?" she folded her arms.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response" she heard him laugh behind his skull.

"Anyway, what's so wrong with being stuck in a car if you have me as company?" Valkyrie raised an eyebrow,

"The only thing wrong with being stuck in a car is that I HAVE you as company" Skulduggery said something quietly to himself that sounded a lot like cow, so she hit him.

"I didn't say anything" he groaned whilst rubbing his arm.

"You're the one who doesn't have ears, not me" he turned his head fully towards her and was about to make a clever remark then caught sight of the look on her face and decided it was probably best not to respond.

"Let's just forget about the cafe and do something else" she said. "Why don't we just talk or something, that doesn't involve bad guys, fights or magic" Skulduggery thought about this for a moment then stopped the car and turned the engine off.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" Valkyrie frowned.

"Hey I came up with the idea you have to pick the conversation" Skulduggery sighed then went silent, she guessed he was probably thinking about what to talk about, or he was thinking about the best way to get rid of her, she couldn't tell.

"Hmm…what did you have for breakfast this morning?"

"Skulduggery I ate my breakfast right in front of you, I had cheerio's" he nodded.

"So you did. That's just like you, eat food in front of me to boast that you can eat and I can't" she stared at him.

"No it's because you snuck into my house instead of going to your meeting"

"That could have had something to do with it" he said agreeing with her. Right now she really did wish she had stayed at home. "So how's your love life going?" he continued. "Have you made a move on Emmett yet?" Valkyrie looked as though she might throw up.

"Skulduggery he's seventy-three"

"And a fine seventy-three year old he is" he replied with a smile in his voice.

"Aren't you supposed to be encouraging me to date people close to my age?" Skulduggery looked at her.

"When have you actually valued anything I've said?" he made Valkyrie stop and think with that one, hmm… let's see, a smile broke across her face.

"There was that time when you thanked me for saving you from the other reality" Skulduggery cocked his head to the side.

"Valkyrie that wasn't any advice on life that was simply me being grateful to you for bringing me back"

"I still valued your gratefulness" he dipped his head down to the steering wheel; she could tell she was annoying him which made it more fun. It had been a while now since they'd had a real conversation, she'd missed this, it was a time when they didn't have to worry about end of the world drama or bad guys or timing. Skulduggery's phone rang; he went to answer it while Valkyrie went back to staring out of the window. It didn't look as though there was a café nearby, maybe Skulduggery was losing it she thought to herself. He was trapped in a different reality for a little under a year after all. She couldn't hear who was on the other end of the phone, it could be Ghastly yelling at Skulduggery for not turning up to the meeting, although, that doesn't really sound like something he would do. He's far too busy to do that. Skulduggery hung up the phone then turned to Valkyrie, his skull was tilted at an angle so she knew something was wrong. A moment of awkward silence went by with the two of them just staring at each other then out of nowhere Skulduggery's finger prodded Valkyrie's face.

"Ouch" she said angrily, mostly out of shock than anything else. "What was that for?"

"I was just checking to make sure you weren't another one of my hallucinations." Valkyrie rubbed her face deciding if that was a passable excuse, she decided it wasn't.

"Why would I be a hallucination? You're not trapped in a rundown town with faceless ones anymore you know, you can't play that card. So who was that on the phone and are they the reason you're acting weird?" Skulduggery didn't respond and she knew another awkward silence was approaching; Valkyrie readied herself in case Skulduggery tried to prod her face off again but no prod came.

"We need to head to the sanctuary" he said at last,

"What do you mean? Is this about the meeting you didn't go to because if it is you're not blaming me for your lack of commitment". Skulduggery shook his head and started the car.

"This isn't about the meeting, I just got a call from Scapegrace, he says there's a woman at the sanctuary" Valkyrie rolled her eyes and cut the engine off.

"Skulduggery now's not the time to be stalking women, so there's a woman at the sanctuary big deal, what's that got to do with us?"

"Scapegrace says the woman told him her name was Valkyrie Cain" Valkyrie took a minute to process this information.

"Yeah we should probably head over there like right now" she said whilst fastening her seatbelt. Skulduggery started the engine again and it roared to life and then the Bentley sped off making its way to the sanctuary.

They walked down the corridors in silence, Valkyrie had no idea what Skulduggery was thinking but right now she didn't really care. She was told she could have a morning away from all this and now once again she was getting dragged here, all because of some lunatic running around calling herself Valkyrie Cain to anyone she met.

"Strangle" she said out of nowhere, Skulduggery turned his head towards her.

"Sorry?" Valkyrie looked his way, suddenly remembering he was with her.

"I was just thinking of what I should do to this crazy person once we see her. I'm torn, I can't decide between strangling her or shooting her. Strangling her would be more satisfying but shooting her would be less physical"

"Such a violent person" Skulduggery said sadly.

"I'm not violent" she replied defensively "I just don't like having my time wasted that's all"

"Whatever gets you through the day Val" she was about to reply to what he said but just then Ghastly, Ravel and Madame Mist stepped out of a room to their left, they noticed the two of them and proceeded towards them.

"Skulduggery" Ravel said a smile growing on his face, "Valkyrie" he said with the same amount of enthusiasm, maybe a bit more than Skulduggery's she thought.

"Good morning your majesty and might I say what a fabulous dress you have on, it's elegant, not too short. I could go as far as to say you're quite passable" Ravel's smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of embarrassment.

"It's not a dress it's a robe, it's traditional for the grand mage and his two elders to wear this uniform, and if you make one more joke about it I'll have you thrown in a cell" Skulduggery bowed.

"My apologies your highness" Valkyrie did her best not to laugh, it became harder when Ravel met her eyes.

"Valkyrie could you please control your partner?" she nodded her head then slapped Skulduggery's arm.

"Thank you" Ravel said whilst pulling something from his pocket.

"So, where's the girl who claims she's Valkyrie Cain? Skulduggery asked, Ravel looked up from the item he had taken out and addressed him.

"Well actually, I wouldn't exactly call her a girl" Valkyrie stared at what Ravel was holding, it looked magnificent. It was shaped like a sphere and was entirely made out of gold; it reminded her of the golden snitch in _**Harry Potter**_ except it had no wings. There was writing all over it; ancient writing, but she couldn't tell what it said. She paid no attention as to what was being said about the impostor; instead she continued to stare at the sphere, transfixed with wonder. It was like she was drawn to it, she could feel magic leaking from within it. Ravel noticed the way she was looking at the sphere and returned it to his pocket, smiling apologetically to her.

"And your sure Scapegrace is telling the truth?" Valkyrie heard Skulduggery ask, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.

"He sounded pretty certain, but we won't know anything until she wakes up". Skulduggery nodded and started walking towards the door they had seen Ravel, Ghastly and Mist walk through, Valkyrie hesitated then followed in his wake. She'd missed most of the conversation about the mysterious girl but she didn't want to ask Skulduggery to fill her in, she didn't want to admit to being hypnotized by that sphere, especially since she had been the only one who had. She remained silent as Skulduggery led the way to – well… wherever it was he wanted to go, maybe they were going to go see the crazy girl, or Scapegrace.

"Interesting object" Skulduggery said after a long silence, Valkyrie turned to him.

"The sphere? Yeah, it was. What do you think it is?" she asked as casually as she could, Skulduggery shrugged.

"No idea, it was rather pretty though. Maybe when we've finished here we could go ask him what it is" Valkyrie nodded but didn't respond. Did Skulduggery notice the way she was staring at it as well, or was he just being his usual nosy self?

They walked along a narrow dimly lit corridor with paintings covering either side of the walls, the paintings kind of creeped Valkyrie out as she glanced at each one as they passed, they were supposed to be of sorcerers fighting during the war with Mevolent, but whoever had painted these must have had an obsession with dark and morbid colors, most of the paintings were very dark and some had bodies piled up on the floor as a dark figure stood over them with a jagged sword. She looked away from them and stared at the back of Skulduggery's head, wondering what he thought of the paintings and if seeing them brought back any awful memories. He didn't even glance at any of them, she was kind of thankful for that in a way; she hated seeing Skulduggery in pain. It's not often she's seen him like that but there have been a few times in the past where that's happened that have just killed her inside.

Skulduggery stepped inside a room leaving Valkyrie a few paces behind trying to catch up, she could hear voices coming from the room and walked in to find Skulduggery in a conversation with Scapegrace. She walked towards them and Scapegrace smiled at her with his women smile which she found off-putting so didn't return the smile; instead she sat down at a table and listened as Skulduggery continued talking.

"As I was saying, we need to know everything she told you, is there anything you missed out when you were talking to Ghastly and Ravel?" Scapegrace looked over at Valkyrie. Was he allowed to tell her? Could it affect the future?

"Er – nothing, everything she told me was passed onto elder Ravel" Skulduggery tilted his head in disappointment then turned to Valkyrie.

"So the only thing that we know is she's pretending to be you and she's old…" Valkyrie snapped her eyes up at him and stared at him in disbelief.

"Wait, she's old? No one ever said she was old"

"Ravel told us while we were standing in the corridor" Valkyrie remembered not listening to that conversation and pretended as if she had.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. Well if she's an old woman why did you think I was a hallucination in the car, she couldn't be me".

"Well yes but I didn't know then that she was old, you know we were in the car before we came to the sanctuary right?" Valkyrie thought about it for a minute then covered her face to hide her embarrassment, this just wasn't her day. Skulduggery noticed this and chuckled behind his skull silently so she couldn't hear. He returned his attention back to Scapegrace who was looking fidgety almost.

"Are you sure she didn't say anything else?", "Anything of importance?" Scapegrace thought about this for a moment, he could tell them himself or he could wait for the future Valkyrie Cain to tell them everything, that way he wouldn't get into any trouble with her. He decided.

"There is something else but I don't think I should be the one to tell you, you'll need to speak with her". That got both Skulduggery's and Valkyrie's attention.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: still don't own Skulduggery or characters_

_A/N: yes some of the story is from the first book but its just a recap on what had happened in the past, no copyright :)_

**Chapter 2**

Meanwhile, somewhere in Haggard 8 years ago, a little girl was running through a dark alley, she looked to be about eleven. She had long dark hair and dark eyes to match, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, the bobble she had used to tie her hair up earlier that day had fallen out during the chase. She kept running as fast as she could, her pursuer right on her heel. This was the second time this man had come after her, the first time had been when she was at her Uncles house, she had convinced her mother to let her stay the night alone in his house since there was no way her parents could pick her up in this weather. She had regretted that decision the moment the man on the phone had banged on the front door, luckily though Skulduggery Pleasant had saved her and she had found out he was in fact a living skeleton. Now a little over an hour later she was running for her life from the same attacker. _**Why me?**_ She thought to herself.

She had left Skulduggery trapped in his car and took off away from the man, now she was far away from Skulduggery she wondered if he'd be able to get to her in time before she was caught. She could see the canal up ahead and picked up her pace, she could try and lose him there. Just then she could feel a hand brushing against her shoulder and she panicked, almost there. The hand reached for her shoulder again and found its mark, the man clung onto her shoulder and began to pull her back but too late, she had already dived forward into the water dragging him with her. She watched the man as he slowly and painfully came apart, she winced as his face melted and disappeared into the water then she swam to the riverbank and hauled herself out.

She waited in the shadows by the Bentley for Skulduggery to come back; he'd managed to free himself from the buckled car door and was probably looking for her. A few minutes later he emerged from the alley that she'd been chased into, he looked worried. She stepped out and shot him a smile; he rushed over to her and checked to see if she was okay. After asking her questions about where the man was and if she was hurt he manipulated the air to dry her off, Stephanie was thankful as she'd been freezing and sighed delightfully as the warmth spread over her. Just then a bright yellow light appeared behind them, Skulduggery got his revolver out and motioned for Stephanie to stand behind him. She did as she was told and stayed behind holding tightly onto his arm. _**Great what now?**_She thought. A man stepped out of the light and landed gracefully onto the ground, Stephanie studied the man then glanced at Skulduggery, judging from the angle in which his head was tilted he had no idea who this man was, not a good sign. The stranger cleared his throat.

"No need to be alarmed I'm not your enemy but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm your ally" he paused thinking about what to say.

"You need to follow me through this portal; I don't have time to explain but I promise you I will answer as many questions as I can that you have for me once we've gone through" nobody moved and Skulduggery gun didn't waver. The man sighed he really didn't have time for this, he clicked his fingers and another portal opened up behind Stephanie, they didn't even have time to turn around as hands shot out of the portal and grabbed both of them, Stephanie screamed while Skulduggery cursed under his breath as the hands dragged them into the yellow light. They disappeared through it leaving the mysterious man stood there rubbing his temples.

"I told them they wouldn't come willingly, no one ever listens and I always get stuck doing the explaining, this is going to give me a headache" he whined to himself before stepping back into his own portal.

He emerged to find at least six cleavers pinning Skulduggery and Stephanie to the ground and Skulduggery shouting threats at them, he sighed again then walked over to them.

"Well now that I've succeeded in bringing you here I suppose you can ask me as many questions as you like, however like I said before, some of your questions I will not be able to answer, not out of stubbornness but simple because if I give you too much information it could have serious consequences." Skulduggery thought about this piece of information then nodded, and then he remembered that Stephanie had been brought here as well.

"I'll stay and hear you out but on one condition, you let the child go" Stephanie looked at Skulduggery and was about to argue that she wasn't leaving without him even though she was scared when the man spoke up.

"I'm afraid I can't send her back, not yet anyway" she turned to him.

"What do you mean you can't send me back yet, why not?" she was getting confused now.

"Because you're needed here" was the man's response. She looked at the man a little puzzled then frowned, why was she needed here she wasn't important she didn't even have magic, she was just an ordinary eleven year old girl. A thought struck her.

"Is this about a key?" remembering the man earlier who had questioned her about a key. It was the man's turn to look confused.

"Key? I have no idea what you're talking about; the two of you are here because I was ordered to bring you here" Stephanie sighed in relief for a moment before going back to being confused. It was Skulduggery however who spoke up.

"And who ordered you to bring us here?" The man looked at Skulduggery.

"Solomon Wreath" Skulduggery let out a low growl and practically spat out his next words.

"You're a necromancer" he said it more as a statement than a question, the man simply nodded affirmation. Stephanie looked between the two then shrugged, she had no idea what was going on or what Skulduggery meant by necromancer but she had decided to stay out of it and let them talk. She could tell that Skulduggery wasn't the least bit worried which comforted her so she relaxed, which was hard to do because of these men on top of her, she had no idea what they looked like all she had seen of them were their grey uniform sleeves which were holding her down. After an uncomfortable hour of being sat upon the necromancer finally ordered them to release her and Skulduggery, the men clad in grey uniform jumped up almost immediately and within a few moments were stood behind their master. Stephanie awkwardly scrambled to her feet, noticing that her legs had gone numb she glared at the men who caused this problem then decided to give Skulduggery a glare as well since he doesn't have these kind of problems. Skulduggery didn't see her glare though; much to her disappointment, he was too busy dusting himself off. After he'd finished he stood up straighter and looked between the guards and the necromancer.

"Tell me, why does a necromancer have cleavers working for him?" the man simply shrugged.

"Times have changed Mr Pleasant, there's no more quarrel between sorcerers and necromancers, now we solely exist as one"

"Since when?" he asked curiously, he hadn't heard anything of the sort from the Sanctuary and he'd learned from past experiences not to trust necromancers. The man looked seemingly bored at the conversation but knew full well that he had to keep Skulduggery around for as long as possible, the alternative being the end of the world didn't exactly seem rather pleasant he thought to himself


	3. The interrogation-of sorts

_Disclaimer: Don't own Skulduggery, wish I did_

_A/N: I kinda like this chapter, maybe it's just me_

**Chapter Three**

Skulduggery and Valkyrie were sat in one of the interrogation rooms in the Sanctuary; they'd received word that the old woman had woken up just less than twenty minutes ago but were told they had to wait to speak with her so she could get used to her surroundings. They had agreed and were now waiting for her to come in. Valkyrie was drumming on the table; she didn't like waiting, she wasn't one for patience. Skulduggery didn't seem to have this problem though, he hadn't moved a muscle (figuratively speaking) since they arrived here ten minutes ago, she envied him about that but only a little bit. Skulduggery cleared his throat in the silence which made Valkyrie jump.

"Do you have to do that?" she demanded. "You don't even have anything to clear" Skulduggery ignored her and started humming to himself. She sighed then went back to drumming. God Skulduggery was annoying sometimes, she thought to herself.

Five minutes later…

"When is she going to get here?" Valkyrie whined, slamming her hands onto the table. She felt like they'd been here for hours.

"Patience Valkyrie, she'll get here when she gets here". Valkyrie shot him a glare.

"I can't wait any longer Skulduggery, make her come in" Skulduggery looked at her for a few moments and she started to feel a bit childish. Just then the only door to the square room opened and a second later an old woman shuffled into the room with ghastly and Ravel supporting her. The old woman looked up as she seated herself opposite them and smiled wryly.

"Why Valkyrie, she's a spitting image of you" Skulduggery quipped, Valkyrie punched him on the shoulder intending to cause him harm but undoubtedly ended up hurting her own hand.

"Valkyrie what have I always told you?" she waited for the answer. "When you hit someone always use your elbow not your fist". He shook his head in disappointment whilst Valkyrie remained silent supporting her bruised hand. The older woman was sitting silently, just watching them. It brought back so many memories of her time with Skulduggery.

Once the introductions were finished (which consisted of Skulduggery shaking her hand and introducing himself and Valkyrie sitting quietly with her arms folded sulking) the old woman remained tight lipped until Ghastly and Ravel left then began to explain everything.

"There are not a lot of things I can tell you but I will try my best to inform you of what's been happening; now where shall I start off"

"How about you start off with who you are?" Skulduggery suggested calmly.

"It's as Scapegrace told you, I'm Valkyrie Cain. I'm you". She pointed a shaky finger at Valkyrie. Valkyrie stood up from her chair and walked over to her. Whatever the old woman had expected her to do it definitely hadn't been what actually ended up happening. Valkyrie reached over to the woman and started tugging on her cheek.

"Look at this Skulduggery, wrinkles. Does it look like I have any wrinkles to you?" Skulduggery thought about this for a moment.

"Well…"

"Don't answer that!" she decided. "Skulduggery she can't be me, I'm me. Besides she looks nothing like me, it doesn't make any sense, are we just going to take her word for it?"

"Well if you'd let her explain I'm sure she'd be more than happy to tell you what's going on". The old woman tapped Valkyrie on her arm. She turned to look at her, wondering what she wanted.

"Er, please could I have my cheek back?" Valkyrie suddenly realized that she was still holding onto her and quickly let go apologizing then went and sat back in her seat. The old woman thanked her then continued speaking.

"I wasn't sure if I would get here in time to be honest, you see, I don't have long left"

"What do you mean you don't have long left?" Valkyrie spoke up. "You don't have long left for what?"

"Life" the woman replied softly.

"Oh…I'm sorry I-" Valkyrie began but the woman held up her hand to stop her.

"I've lived a long life, longer than any normal human. I didn't tell you for your sympathy. I told you because I don't know how long I will be of use to you". Skulduggery took over the questioning.

"You said that you're Valkyrie, explain that" the woman nodded.

"I guess there's no simpler way to say this, I'm Valkyrie Cain, from the future" Valkyrie spun round to Skulduggery.

"Is this even possible? Can she really be me from the future?"

"I don't see why not, although I've never heard of time travel ever happening before"

"That's because it never has happened before" the woman cut in. "It's against all laws of physics"

"Then how did you manage? I mean me-you, aarghh this is too confusing"

"Back in my time, your future, the walls of reality is breaking down. That's why when I figured out I could travel back in time I chose this time frame specifically".

"Wait, what do you mean the walls of reality are breaking down? "How is that happening?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you how it's happening or why, all I can tell you is that if we don't find a way to stop it then our reality will merge with the dimension of the faceless ones." Valkyrie gasped.

"Which means…"

"The Faceless ones will be freed and will begin to take over this world" the old woman finished. "And that's not all, since the time frames are being affected and crumbling apart, if it's not stopped in time then all the time frames will form together as one. There will be no past, present or future anymore". The room fell silent as everyone took her words into account. Then Skulduggery remembered something she said earlier.

"You said you came back to this time frame specifically, why?" she didn't answer straight away, thinking of the best way to phrase what she was about to say.

"Because…here is where it all started".


	4. Ravels worry

_Disclaimer: gonna keep putting this because why not. I do not own Skulduggery or the characters._

_A/N - Should be doing one or two chapters a week after this one, maybe more if I have time to._

**Chapter Four**

Ravel waited anxiously outside the interrogation room, he'd been pacing up and down the corridor for an hour now, his heart racing. He'd been expecting the door to be wrenched open and be confronted by an angry Skulduggery Pleasant any minute now, but no angry Skulduggery came. In fact everything seemed quite peaceful in there which surprised him, surely if she had told them about Ravel he'd hear Skulduggery's raised voice or Valkyrie threatening to kill him, unless…maybe she hadn't told them, maybe she didn't even know herself, after all she'd never given any indication as to knowing about him and what he's been planning for. Ghastly stood by the door watching him, he'd been keeping a close eye on him for a few hours now ever since he'd noticed that Ravel had been jumpy since Valkyrie from the future had arrived.

"You okay Ravel?" he asked. Ravel looked over at him.

"Yeah I'm fine, just wondering why we couldn't have stayed in there as well" he hoped he didn't sound as anxious as he felt. Ghastly stared at him in silence for a minute or two then turned, a puzzled look passing fleetingly across his face.

"She only wanted to speak with Skulduggery and Valkyrie and she said it was urgent", Ravel nodded then continued looking at the door.

He started worrying about the old woman some more, was she going to get in the way of his plans? How big an affect will she have made by being here? He vowed there and then that nothing and no one will get in the way of his plans, no matter the cost. He daren't think about what was happening in the serious, urgent meeting going on between the three of them right now.

Back in the interrogation room...

"Ouch!" Skulduggery said whilst rubbing his arm, Valkyrie clicked her knuckles readying for another hit.

"That's what you get for telling a really lame joke. Honestly Skulduggery, that has to be the worst joke in history"

"I didn't see anything wrong with my joke, I found it quite amusing actually" Valkyrie arched an eyebrow.

"A skeleton walks into a bar… you seriously didn't think that joke was going to be lame?"

"For someone with exquisite taste in style you certainly lack in entertainment" the future Valkyrie added with humor in her voice. Skulduggery shook his head sadly.

"You two just don't have a sense of humor that's what it is, you can't blame me for that" Valkyrie raised her fist, about to strike him again.

"Aren't we in the middle of a meeting?" Skulduggery tried but to no avail. Her punch caught him right on his jaw, jerking his head back and sending his hat on the table in front.

"Why do I always get hit?" he said sulkily, rubbing his jaw.

"Because you always do or say something lame or uncalled for". Valkyrie shot back, sitting down on her chair. The future Valkyrie nodded her agreement as Skulduggery harrumphed good-naturally.

They had spent maybe an hour talking about why she was here, though she had no idea what had begun here she knew it was during this time period, of that she was certain. She had been careful with not letting anything from her time slip from her mouth, once or twice she almost fell for Valkyrie's antics but that was about it. A lot of the things she had told them didn't make any sense to them, but that was because she couldn't really go into detail about it all, not without revealing names or places. When Valkyrie had complained about things getting too serious Skulduggery had tried to lighten the mood by telling a few jokes which explains why he ended up getting hit twice.

"So…is this meeting over now or what?" Valkyrie asked casually, breaking the welcoming silence that beckoned them. Skulduggery shrugged his shoulders lazily.

"I guess so, we have all the information we need for now and if we need any more we can just ask your twin" Valkyrie glared at him but didn't respond, she was too busy waiting for the all clear so she could leave. It was all good being here but it was a little unnerving being with the you from the future.

"So will I be following you two or am I staying here?" the old Valkyrie asked.

"I think its best you come with us for now, in case we need anything. You'll be staying with Valkyrie at her house until it's time for you to go". Valkyrie stared at him in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding Skulduggery, how would I even explain her to my parents?" Skulduggery thought for a moment.

"That's not really my problem" he said at last.

"Skulduggery!" she replied, her voice rising.

"You're a bright girl, use your imagination" Skulduggery picked his hat up off the table, then stood up and made his way to the door. Valkyrie waited then sighed and trudged her way over to the door with the future Valkyrie following in her wake. Skulduggery stepped out into the corridor nodding at Ghastly as he walked past, he noticed Ravel was looking a bit alarmed as he stood there quite still in the middle of the corridor.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked Ghastly who shrugged.

"Beats me, maybe he's finally lost it" Skulduggery studied Ravel again.

"Was there anything to lose?" he joked.

"Let's just keep talking and looking his way so he thinks we're talking about him" Ghastly suggested enjoying where the conversation was going.

"Good idea" Skulduggery said patting him on the head, he swiped his arm away from his head in mock anger then they continued talking for a few minutes, Valkyrie and the future Valkyrie joined them not long after. The future Valkyrie gave Ravel an unreadable look when she exited the room then returned to the conversation as Ghastly had asked her something. Ravel stood frozen to the spot. He didn't know what Skulduggery, Ghastly and the other two were talking about, but every so often they kept glancing his way. Could it be that they knew about him? Did that old woman tell them everything she knew, whatever she knew?


	5. Spherical orb

_Disclaimer: I don't own Skulduggery or the characters._

_A/N: Sorry it's taken a while to update, had writers block_

**Chapter 5**

They'd spent another few minutes winding Ravel up before they called it quits because they were bored, then made their way into the main part of the sanctuary. Valkyrie didn't know why they were going this way deeper into the building instead of heading back outside, she wondered when they would be allowed to leave. The only reason they came here in the first place was because of the future Valkyrie, and now that they had her she didn't see a reason to stay. Skulduggery was walking beside her humming to himself again. Ravel trudged along after them slightly annoyed; he found out from Scapegrace that everyone was messing with him, making him think they knew something about him. Even though he knew his secret was safe he didn't know for how long it would be. He couldn't shake that look the Valkyrie from the future gave him earlier, it was filled with hatred and something else, but what that something else was he had no idea. But one thing was for certain, she knew his secret.

"I don't understand why we're still here" Valkyrie whined.

"You do whine a lot don't you?" Skulduggery commented then sighed. "We're still here because we haven't left yet"

"Very funny, I mean why are we still here? We have old Val", she turned to the older version of herself. "That's what I'm calling you by the way" she added.

"Fair enough" she responded smiling slightly.

"So why do we need to stay?" she finished. Skulduggery pretended as if he hadn't heard her.

"The sanctuary holds a lot of strange and unknown things doesn't it?" he asked no one in particular.

"I mean the amount of times I've stumbled across something here and gone 'ooh what's that' is quite surprising, especially since I know almost everything". Valkyrie rolled her eyes at that.

"Is there a point to this?" Ghastly chimed in, Valkyrie almost jumped at the sound of his voice. She'd completely forgotten he was there as well.

"My point is I'm a very nosy person, and nosy people like to know things" everyone stayed quiet still waiting for him to say what he wanted.

"What was that thing you pulled out of your pocket earlier Ravel?" Ravel frowned trying to figure out what Skulduggery was talking about.

"Do you mean when we talked earlier and we discussed the other Valkyrie…"

"We call her old Val remember" Valkyrie said.

"Oh right, sorry" he replied absentmindedly, "Do you mean when we talked earlier and we discussed the old Val?" Skulduggery nodded his head.

"Yes, you pulled it out of your pocket then. I'm curious to know what it is"

"Sure, but why are you asking?"

"Oh, no reason, I just took an interest that's all" Valkyrie remained silent, she was sure Skulduggery was asking about it because he'd seen her react to it. Ravel didn't move for a bit, studying Skulduggery and then he drew the golden sphere back out of his pocket. The moment he reached into his pocket Valkyrie turned in the other direction as casually as she could, pretending to take in her surroundings. Since she was pretending to she decided to actually look around, now that she thought about it she realized she'd never been in this part of the sanctuary before. She was kind of glad as well; this place was a bit creepy and morbid. There was no windows to let light in so the only source of light was the dull bulbs encased in the chandelier and one of them was flickering constantly which annoyed her so she averted her eyes to something else.

While Valkyrie was looking around the others began discussing the object in Ravel's hand.

"This is a spherical orb" Ravel said holding it at arm's length so everyone could see it.

"And what does it do? What's its purpose?" Valkyrie asked her back still to him.

"Erm…I don't really know" he replied sheepishly. Everyone stared at him in disbelief; even Valkyrie turned a fraction towards him at that. But then she remembered the sphere and quickly turned back.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Skulduggery said.

"Exactly that I don't know what it does, I found it six years ago while travelling" he noticed everyone still looking at him as if he was stupid so added. "I know that an ancient magic leaks from within it if that helps" Skulduggery perked up at this.

"Ancient magic? Do you mean like magic from the ancients?"

"Could be, haven't figured that out yet" Skulduggery turned to the old Val.

"Do you have any idea as to what that is?" he asked pointing to the sphere. She waited a moment before answering.

"…No, I've never seen that before" she hoped she sounded as convincing as she thought she did. Skulduggery stared at her and was about to question her further when all of a sudden there was a loud crash coming from above them. They all looked up to see two dark figures descending from the skylight, Skulduggery withdrew his revolver readying for the fight that was approaching Valkyrie right behind him.

The intruders landed in a heap on the floor, groaning from the impact, they slowly rose to their feet then noticed five pairs of eyes on them and froze. Everything remained quite as an awkward silence filled the air.

Valkyrie looked at the two of them slightly baffled, they weren't very good intruders she thought. She didn't know what to do, one of them looked like a child but she couldn't tell because they were covered from head to toe in dark elastic suits and face masks. It was weird; looking at the two of them gave her a sense of deja vu but she didn't know why. Skulduggery just stood there, it seemed he didn't know what to do either. Was he getting the same vibe?

"Erm…you're under arrest for breaking and entering" Ravel said to them halfheartedly, he was quite shocked from all of this, usually when people try to sneak into the sanctuary they're very stealthy about it but these two just literally crashed through alerting everyone of their presence. Clearly this hadn't been planned out. Before anyone could say anything more, one of the intruders pulled something out of their pocket, clicked it and rolled it into the middle of the room, a few seconds later smoke emerged from within it and started to cover the room.

"What the-"

"What's going on?" someone said.

"Hey give that back!" a different voice shouted

"Skulduggery what's happening I can't see anything"

"Someone just brushed against me" Valkyrie said with panic in her voice.

"That was me" Ghastly said.

"Who's me?" Ghastly rolled his eyes at where her voice was coming from then looked around, he couldn't see anything through the smoke.

"Skulduggery?" no reply "Skulduggery where are you?" he tried.

A little while later the smoke began to disappear causing everyone to relax. Valkyrie looked to where the intruders were before and wasn't surprised to find that they were gone. She was surprised that the intruders hadn't gone after them though; no one had gotten into a fight with them which was a bit strange she thought.

"Guys we have a problem" Ravel whispered nervously, looking at the ground.

"Where's Skulduggery?" Valkyrie said, noticing he wasn't here anymore.

"Knowing him he probably went after the intruders, but what did they want? I mean they only just entered the sanctuary so why would they leave willingly empty handed.

"Yeah not quite so empty handed" Everyone stared at Ravel questioningly.

"What do you mean not quite so empty handed? What did they take?

"Have you forgotten that I was holding onto something earlier?" their expressions went from confusion to understanding.

"Then that means-"

"They took the spherical orb"


End file.
